Mandeville signs letter for audit

The Mandeville City Council has agreed to contract with LaPorte Sehrt Romig and Hand to audit the city’s financial statements for 2009.

By law the audit must be complete within six months of the close of the fiscal year.

Mandeville’s fiscal year ended on Aug. 31.

The auditors with Laporte Sehrt Romig and Hand have stated they would like to get started on the audit Monday in order to have it finished in time. However, members of Mandeville’s newly formed audit committee has expressed interest in meeting with the people charged with conducting the audit prior to them starting work.

Glen Runyon, a member of that committee said he would like to meet with the auditors periodically throughout the process, and he hopes to meet with them first thing Monday morning to set up a schedule for those meetings and set milestones for the auditors to meet.

The committee will meet with the auditors for a final report before the finished audit is presented to the council.

Under the agreement signed with LaPorte Sehrt Romig and Hand, the audit will encompass all funds under the city’s control including the general fund, all special revenue funds, capital project funs, debt service funds and any other fund under the city’s control.

The city will pay a fee that will not exceed $35,000 for the audit. It is noted that fee could go up if city personnel do not cooperate or if the firm has to spend more then the anticipated time to conduct the audit.

Laporte Sehrt Romig and Hand plans to have the audit complete by Feb. 28.

The council was slated to approve the engagement letter at its last council meeting on Oct.22, but delayed that vote until a special meeting could be called at the request of Interim Mayor Edward “Bubby” Lyons.

Lyons, who was appointed to fill the temporary seat on Oct. 17, said, at that time, he wanted more time to review the engagement letter. Given the extra time, he was OK with its approval at the special meeting held Thursday morning.

At the same meeting, the council voted to take former mayor Eddie Price’s name off a list of allowed signers for an account the city has at Resource Bank and replaced it with Lyons’.